


Stardust Souls

by Golden_Moon_Huntress



Series: Destined for Disaster [2]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - the Baudelaires on Pern, Firelizards, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings, The Baudelaires have a dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28350420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Moon_Huntress/pseuds/Golden_Moon_Huntress
Summary: A family trip to the beach, wild firelizards, and a clutch of eggs.What could possibly go wrong?But then, these kids have never been lucky.
Relationships: Klaus Baudelaire & Sunny Baudelaire, There are so many Baudelaires I can't tag all the relationships, Uhhh... and all the Damien/Indigo/Lavender/Elias/Sofia/Finn/Loki/Kyra/Phoebe/Noah variations, Violet Baudelaire & Klaus Baudelaire, Violet Baudelaire & Klaus Baudelaire & Sunny Baudelaire, just a ton of sibling relationships
Series: Destined for Disaster [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875025
Kudos: 1





	1. In Which the Kids Take a Trip to the Beach

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or A Series of Unfortunate Events.
> 
> This is not canon to Unlucky Stars. It's essentially an AU of an AU where I put the Baudelaires on Pern, where they have no better luck than before.

“Now, be careful,” Uncle Monty was saying as the children followed him out across the cliff edge.

Violet, the eldest of the siblings, gazed across the sea. Would it be possible, she wondered, to invent something like wings of their own, so they could glide on the breeze? Thoughtfully, she shifted Sunny against her hip, drawing her hair back from her face with her free hand.

“You want me to tie it back?” Damien asked.

“Please.”

Damien was Violet’s twin brother and the only one of her siblings taller than her. He pulled the ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair back.

“The clutch will be near hatching now, so the firelizards will be rather protective of it.”

“Hisssss!” Kyra shouted. She was the third youngest of the girls and had an obsession with reptiles. Why, Indigo wondered, oh why, had their Uncle Monty seen fit to name one of his firelizards ‘Hiss?’

Indigo was younger than the twins by just under a turn and, much to her continuing irritation, shorter than both of them by half a head. _Shards_ , even Klaus was going to outgrow her in a year or two if she didn’t get any taller!

“You must be very careful not to disturb them. They may not allow you to see the clutch this time.”

“According to ‘Wild Firelizards and Where to Find Them,’ firelizards are very defensive of their clutches,” Klaus said. He was twelve years old, the middle child (though not by much), and liked to read.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Sofia asked. She was older than Klaus by barely an hour, taller than him by an inch, and constantly trying to keep her brothers out of trouble.

“Perfectly safe, as long as you don’t act like a threat.”

“I want to explore those caves.”

“Elias, how many times?”

“But it looks fun! And there might be green clutches in there!”

“No,” replied Indigo.

“But Indigo-!”

“No, Elias,” said Violet.

“It’s not like you’re our mum!” Loki shouted.

Violet winced. Damien squeezed her arm. “He’s still hurting.”

Loki was seven years old, fascinated by animals, and not coping with the deaths of their parents well. His large, black canine, Dog, was bounding at his side.

“Uncle Monty, do you think we can take one of the eggs?”

“Absolutely not! If you children desire a firelizard, I have more than enough money and connections to obtain you one. Why, one of my good friends has a Queen- Ah, here we are.”

They stopped at the slope leading down to the beach.

“Now, do be careful. It’s a little steep, and we don’t want a repeat of the last time.”

The slope was more than ‘a little steep,’ and the children would have to climb vertically in a few places.

“Sofia, you want me to take Noah?” Damien called.

“No, I’ve got him!”

Sunny and Noah were the youngest of the siblings, infant twins each no larger than a boot with very, very sharp and strong teeth which they used to bite as many things as they could.

“If you’re sure.”

“Lavender, where are your shoes?”

“In our basket,” Lavender replied, indicating the basket Finn was carrying. Lavender was younger than Indigo by a full turn, and, unlike her older sisters, a dancer rather than a builder.

“Put them back on; you’ll hurt your feet!”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine.”

“It’s fine Indigo.”

“Don’t cry to me when you hurt yourself.”

Lavender slipped down the next section of the slope and held her free hand up to Finn. With her other she was holding Phoebe, who was older than the twins by a year.

“Don’t cry to me when you’re hurt,” Lavender mimicked.

“I heard that!”

At last all the siblings were down on the beach. Finn and Loki stopped to pull their boots off. The sand was warm beneath their feet.

Uncle Monty smiled. “Here we are! Now, if you just want to enjoy the beach, try to stay down this end of the beach.”

Indigo wasn’t sure if she could ever enjoy a beach again.

Even now being here brought back unhappy memories.

“If you want to see the firelizards, be very careful. The Queen is rather vicious.” He paused to look at them. “Vicious means ‘very violent.’”

“We know what vicious means,” said Klaus.

Violet handed Sunny to Damien and pulled the notebook Uncle Monty had given her from her pocket, gazing out over the sea as she began to consider and sketch what she wanted.

Finn took his flute from inside his jacket and began to play a low, haunting tune. Lavender pulled a grey blanket from the picnic blanket and laid it on the sand for Phoebe before closing her eyes and beginning to work out some form of dance routine for the music.

Elias rolled his eyes. “Does everything you play have to be totally depressing?”

“We haven’t had many happy things to think about recently Elias,” Sofia muttered.

“I can assure you children that you have nothing to worry about here. I know your parents are gone, but hopefully together we can make some new happy memories.”

Klaus sighed. “I hope so.”

“Can we go see the firelizards?” Loki asked, jumping from foot to foot.

“Please!” Kyra shouted, followed by “Hiss!”

“I’ll go with you,” said Indigo.

“Do you have your meat?”

The children lifted the small sacks of meat Uncle Monty had insisted they bring as treats for the firelizards if they tried to attack. Each of them had two, which were tied to their belts.

“Good, good! Come along then.”

The triplets tagged along with the three of them, since most of the caves were down that end of the beach.

Violet and Damien, meanwhile, wandered down to the sea edge so Violet could think away from the boisterousness of her siblings and Finn’s haunting flute music. Damien held Sunny’s arms at the wrists and held her upright so she could paddle in the water. Lavender spun and twirled on the sand, her long dark hair flying around her.

Kyra pulled at Indigo’s hand, grumbling and impatient. “See firelizards! Hiss! Can I have?”

“No; you can’t have!”

“Spoilsport,” muttered Loki.

“Now Kyra, you must be careful. Firelizards are rather territorial.” He paused, frowning at them. “Territorial means defensive.”

“We know what territorial means,” said Klaus.

“Of course, of course. Well, firelizards defend their areas very- aha!” He stopped abruptly, and Klaus nearly walked straight into him.

“There’s one!” He pointed at the rocky cliffside. “Do you see her?”

It took the children a moment, but at last they located the small, green shape perched on a rock shelf watching them.

“Now, where’s the rest of your fair?”

“Fight Thread?” Kyra suggested.

“I shouldn’t think so. We’re not due Thread for another four days.

Perhaps they’re gathering in the cave with the clutch.”

The clutch was in one of the caves above the tide line at the far end of the beach, half hidden by rocks and fronds. The children had peeked at it during their earlier two visits and counted well over forty eggs. ‘A good number,’ Uncle Monty had said.

“It is really rather odd we haven’t seen any of the others yet," Uncle Monty said. "You children wait here; I’m going to take a look.”

Dog wuffed.

Uncle Monty hurried away from them, climbing over the rocky wall in front of them.

“I wonder what’s up there,” Elias mused, gazing up at the green firelizard.

“Elias…”

“It’s not like it’s high up!” He headed over to the cliffside, finding a foothold in the rock.

Behind them, Finn’s tune floated on the wind. It was reaching a bizarre kind of danger note, and even Lavender had stopped to frown at him.

“Finn, what are you doing?”

He didn’t reply, focused on his music, which hit a high, haunting, lingering note.

“Um, Finn?”

Damien glanced over his shoulder. “You think he’s alright?”

Violet shrugged, adding another line to her sketch. “You know what Finn’s like. This is just his way of dealing with things.”

“That’s a weirder one than usual though. You think he’ll write that one out?”

“Probably.”

Damien leant back to gave at the rest of their siblings far, far up the beach. “Do you think they’ll be safe here Vi?”

“Uncle Monty seems like a good sort.”

“Yeah, but… I dunno. First impressions can be deceiving.”

“We’ve been here nearly three sevendays.”

“That’s still early days.”

“I think… I think we need to try to worry slightly less.”

“Worry less? Vi, you know he’s still out there!”

She flinched, glancing up and down the beach as though he might appear from the rocks or emerge from the sea like some form of demon. “Of course I know that! I just think we need to give Uncle Monty a fair chance. He’s been nothing but nice to us.”

Finn’s warbling note echoed across the beach. Violet finally looked up from her sketchbook, glancing round at him. “You’re right. That one is weirder than normal.”

Further up the beach, Loki had darted ahead of Indigo and Kyra with Dog and was climbing up the rocks at the end of the sandy stretch.

“Loki! Get back here!”

“Nuh uh!”

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

“Will not!”

“Loki!”

Loki yelped as he slid down the other side, landing on his chest and elbows and knocking the air from his lungs. Dog wuffed, bounding up the rocks like they were flat ground. There was a shrill chirp from somewhere above him. He lifted his head, meeting a pair of whirling red eyes.

Somewhere out behind him, Finn was still playing. The song was high pitched and haunting, long, trilling notes that and low, humming ones. It felt like something he needed as he played, the taste of copper and smoke in the air, a strange sense of... emptiness around him. It felt like he was putting everything, the loss and the pain and the fear and hope from the last half turn into the tune. Lavender had given up trying to dance to it, and was showing Phoebe some of the nearby rock pools.

"Snappy!" she shouted, pounting out a crab.

"That's right Phoebs! Snappy."

"Swishies?"

"I don't see any."

Violet had finally finished her sketch, satisfied with her design. "Do you think Uncle Monty would let me get the materials for something like this?"

"Fabric and wood? I don’t see why not. He got you all that wood to make those pipes for Finn.”

“Yes, but that was a musical instrument.”

Indigo set Kyra down and climbed up behind Loki and Dog. It was a high rocky lump, sticking up from the sand and then sloping down into the sand again. Beneath her, Loki was laid on that sand, gazing up at the large Queen firelizard. One of her three bronzes was perched a little higher up the cliff, whipping his tail as though agitated.

An array of browns, blues and greens were fluttering and perched around the rocks and bluff, chirping and shrieking. Indigo had never seen them in a frenzy like this during any of their earlier trips.

“I think they’re scared," Loki said.

“Of what?”

“I dunno.”

Elias had reached the ledge the green had been perched on. She had vanished with a cross squawk as he neared her, and hadn’t come back. Klaus clambered up behind him. “Next foothold by your left knee. Can you see anything yet?”

“Almost. Hang on.” Elias pushed himself up another length, bringing him eye level with the ledge. It led back into a shallow sort of nook, inside which he could see seven small speckled eggs nestled.

“It’s a nest!” he called back excitedly, scrabbling for another foothold with his right foot. For a moment he swayed and struggled for balance. Sofia watched the two boys from below, taking a step back. It would hardly be the first time Elias had lost his balance and fallen to the sand below. At last though, he found a ledge he could put his foot on and caught himself. Now he was higher, he could haul himself up onto the shallow ledge. He held his hand down for Klaus, who joined him. The two of them peered in at the eggs. They were small, smaller than those of the Queen that they had seen on their last few visits.

“What do you think we should do?”

“Probably best to leave them,” said Klaus, looking out over the beach. Back the way they had come from, he could see Lavender rushing over to the twins, Phoebe hefted against her hip, waving one arm. Down beneath them, Sofia followed her brother’s gaze and then Lavender’s wild indications somewhere diagonally behind them and a little out to sea.

“Violet!” Lavender called as she rushed over the damp sand to her eldest siblings. “Damien! Look!”

Violet whirled round. “Look at what?”

Lavender jabbed a hand behind them at a silvery fog on the horizon. Damien gazed over her head at it. “Shards.”


	2. In Which the Kids Defy Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or A Series of Unfortunate Events. All rights to their rightful owners.

“We need to get back to the croft.”

Damien shook his head, shifting Sunny and against him and wrapping her in his arms as though that would somehow protect her. “There’s not enough time.”

“I thought we weren’t due Threadfall,” Violet said.

“Do you want to tell the Thread that?”

Violet squared her shoulders, as though preparing to fight the Thread herself. “We need to get down to the caves at the other end. There are plenty big enough to shelter us; we can sit it out there.”

Finn’s tune hit a sharp, trilling note. Lavender shoved Phoebe at Violet and sprinted back to her younger brother to grab his arm, cutting off the song. “We have to go.”

“What?”

“Threadfall; we have to get down to the caves.” She snatched up the blanket, shoving it into the picnic basket.

“Leave that!” Damien shouted, already trying to herd Violet ahead of him towards the other end of the beach. Lavender picked up the basket in one hand and grabbed Finn’s arm with the other, dragging him behind her after the twins. He glanced anxiously over his shoulder at the slowly approaching Threadfall, which was illuminated by distant flashes of red.

“Elias!” Sofia screamed up the cliff. Noah wailed at the sudden loud noise too close to his ears.

“Klaus! Do you see that?”

“We see it!” Klaus shouted back.

“What do we do?”

“Vi and the others are coming this way!”

“Can you make it up here? This cave might just be big enough for all of us!”

“I could, but not with Noah in my arms dimglow!”

“We need a lower cave,” Klaus said.

“The one from last time,” Elias said. “Remember? That one’s easier to reach.”

“Yeah, that’d be perfect! Sofia, the cave from before, the bigger one!”

“Got it!” She turned and set off across the rocks, scrambling with her feet and free hand.

“What about the eggs?” Elias asked.

“Leave them!”

“But-”

“They should be safe here. Come on.” Klaus spun himself round and slid from the ledge on his stomach, dangling by his hands for a moment before finding footholds and beginning the climb down. Elias hesitated still, and then swung his knapsack from his shoulder, opening it and gently lifting the eggs inside.

“Elias!”

“Coming!” He pulled the knapsack shut, carefully lifted it onto his shoulder, and followed his brother.

As the first strand of Thread reached the other end of the beach, the clustered firelizards vanished with angry screeches, reappearing above and around the cliffs a moment later, swirling around and trilling with fury.

Indigo stood precariously on the rocky precipice, waving her arms as Violet, Damien, Lavender and Finn sprinted down the beach towards them.

“Uncle Monty!” she called. “Uncle Monty!”

There was no reply.

“Loki, do you see him?”

“No!”

Elias and Klaus were rapidly scaling down the cliffside, while Sofia was carrying Noah over the large rocks, scrambling and stumbling, her blonde hair blasting around her face. Vi and Damien were about halfway to them now, running full pelt towards them. Behind them and far, far above, Indigo could see the flashes of red from the distant dragons. The Threadfall looked heavy, though Indigo had only seen four outside and personally. As she watched, however, she could see an enormous mass of the stuff fall, devouring the dragons beneath it.

“Loki,” she called slowly. Her brother squinted up at her.

“Yeah?”

“Get inside the cave.”

“With the eggs?”

“Yes. Now.”

“But Uncle Monty said-”

“I _know_ what Uncle Monty said, now get inside the cave!”

Loki nodded and scrabbled up the short distance to the clutch cave, calling for Dog. He had only ever seen inside from a short distance away, peering at the eggs with fascination, but now there were no firelizards there on guard and he slipped inside, crawling around the eggs to the back. Dog pricked his ears up as he looked at the eggs.

“No,” Loki said, patting the ground next to him. Dog wagged his tail and bounded around the edge of the cave to sit down next to him. Loki lowered himself a little closer to the ground, peering under the fronds and out at Indigo.

There was so much Thread coming past the dragons. If her siblings didn’t make it to the caves, they would be eaten alive. Indigo slid back down to Kyra, grabbed her, although she really was a little too big to be carried, and hauled her back up the rocks.

“Scary.”

“I know, I know.” Indigo slithered down the other side and climbed halfway up to the firelizard cave, lifting Kyra up to it. Her sister kicked and scrabbled against the stone before finding a grip and crawling inside. Indigo turned and returned to her vantage point, waving her arms frantically. After everything they’d been through, she couldn’t lose her family like this.

“Come on! Run faster!”

Lavender dropped the picnic basket, still pulling Finn along. He was the smallest of them running, and less accustomed to physical exertion than the rest of them. She didn’t want to look back at the Thread behind them. They could taste smoke amongst the salty breeze, the stench of charring and blood. Something cut deep into her foot and she cried out, stumbling. Finn steadied her before she could fall, forcing her to keep moving. They could see Indigo up ahead of them, balanced on a rocky ledge and waving her arms, screaming at them. Violet glanced back over her shoulder. The leading edge was past the other edge of the beach, encroaching rapidly on where they had been stood only minutes before, and there was still a long strip of beach in front of them.

_You’re the eldest_ , their parents had once said to her, _you need to take care of your siblings_.

Violet wasn’t entirely sure that this was what they had meant.

Sofia clambered over the rocks in what she remembered was the general direction of the cave they had explored before. She could hear the boys behind her, now back on the ground and hurrying to catch up. Noah was still wailing, crying, unaware of what was happening.

“It’s alright,” she gasped. “It’s going to be alright.”

“Sofia!” Indigo shouted, waving her arms. “The firelizard cave!” She waved an arm behind her. Sofia weighed up her options for a moment, and then dug her fingers deeper into his tunic and leapt from her rocky path to the side of the one Indigo was stood on. A few pebbles clattered away under her feet.

“Where are you going?” Elias shouted from behind her.

“The firelizard cave!” Sofia called back.

“Oh, so now we’re allowed in the firelizard cave!”

Klaus rolled his eyes. “We’re about to be caught out in Threadfall Elias, I think exonerating circumstances can be applied here!”

“Yeah yeah yeah; whatever!”

Violet risked a glance back over her shoulder, sucking in a sharp breath at just how close the Threadfall was to them. Was there another option, she wondered? Could they jump in the water? Thread drowned – but so would they if they couldn’t hold their breath for long enough, and Sunny and Phoebe couldn’t swim, nor was it Finn’s strongest area.

Damien slowed for a moment and reached back to grab Lavender’s arm as she started to fall behind, yanking her up alongside him. Her foot was burning and she didn’t dare look down to check the damage as she ran, afraid it might make her ankle give way if she made the wound real. Finn fingered his flute, trying to hold onto the song in his head as his heartbeat echoed in his ears.

Klaus and Elias followed Sofia’s path, leaping onto the other precipice and scrambling easily along it to the stretch of sand below that led up to the firelizard cave. Sofia had already lifted Noah in ahead of herself and was now climbing into the cave behind him. Elias linked his fingers and reached up. “I’ll give you a boost.”

She felt him hook his hands under her boot and pushed herself the last short distance into the cave. Loki, Dog and Kyra were huddled at the back, and Noah had crawled a short way inside towards them. Sofia spun round and laid on her stomach to hang her hands over for her brothers. Klaus went first, Elias giving him a boost, and then the two of them reached down to pull Elias in behind them.

The Threadfall was maybe halfway up the beach by now, Indigo’s dark figure illuminated against it.

“Indigo!” Elias called. “Come on!”

“Vi!” she screamed. “Damien! Hurry up!”

“Indigo!”

She turned to look at them, and then whipped round again to scream for the rest of their siblings.

“Indigo! Get inside!”

At last she slid down the rocky outcrop and darted across to the cliff face, finding a foothold and reaching up to her younger siblings. The two boys took her hands, hauling her up as she kicked and scrabbled against the rock.

“Thanks,” she gasped.

“Yeah,” Klaus muttered, staring out at the rapidly approaching Thread and the flashes from the dragons above them. Above their heads, the firelizards continued to screech.

“We should be safe in here. We’ll just have to sit it out.” Indigo crouched at the cave mouth, watching as the Thread slowly got closer and closer. How close were the others now, she wondered, or had they already been devoured?

“Uncle Monty?” she called, glancing up and down the cliff. There was no sign of him. Hopefully, she thought, he was just sheltering in one of the other caves. It felt a little cowardly though, that he was sheltering alone and had done nothing to help them.

Violet and her younger siblings were near the rocks and caves now, so close to shelter, but Thread was still moving towards them. Could it sense them, she wondered, was it hoping to make them its next meal? She scrambled up onto the rocks, trembling, and Damien boosted her up from below, hooking his free hand under her boot and shoving her up. Lavender pushed Finn ahead of her and boosted him up the outcrop of rock. He scrambled up alongside Violet, reaching back down to take Lavender’s hand. Damien was last, climbing easily up the rocks. A glance back at the beach told him that Thread was maybe fifteen lengths away now, slowly getting closer.

Violet slid down to the other side of the rocks. Indigo leant over the edge of the cave to look down at her. Violet held Phoebe up. “Take her take her take her!”

Indigo grabbed her by the wrists and yanked her up into the cave. Phoebe wailed in surprise. Damien passed Sunny to Violet and stopped at the base of the rocks to help Lavender and Finn down. Violet shoved Finn up to Indigo and then she and Damien knelt and boosted Finn up to the cave. He scrambled inside. Lavender was next, accepting Indigo’s hand to steady herself and crawl into the cave. Damien helped Violet up next, and then climbed up the cliffside himself, rolling into the cave. Behind them, Thread was mere lengths from the rocks they had just climbed over.


	3. In Which the Kids Face a New Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note  
> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The siblings huddled at the back of the cave. Outside, they could see Thread was falling in massive sheets, breaking past the dragonwings and floating to the ground.

Lavender gazed out at it. “I wish we had a flamethrower. Ow!”

“Sorry,” muttered Sofia, who was examining her injured foot. There was a long, deep gash across the sole of her foot, from her heel to her arch.

“Has anyone got any water?”

The siblings glanced round at each other, until at last Indigo pulled her waterskein from one of her belt pouches, passing it over to her younger sister. Sofia uncapped it and sloshed some over Lavender’s foot, pulling out her handkerchief to clean away the blood.

They could hear the frenzied cries of the firelizards and watched as they swooped outside the cave, screeching defiantly at Thread and spitting fire. As they watched, one of the browns was engulfed by Thread and vanished with a shriek. Several others had already met the same fate. They didn’t want to think about it.

“Do you think we’ll be safe here?” Finn asked.

“I think so,” Violet replied. “This cliff is solid stone; as long as the Thread doesn’t blow in from outside we should be safe.”

Elias opened his knapsack and lifted out the seven eggs he had taken from the smaller nest. Indigo frowned. “Where did you get those?”

Klaus turned to him. “You took those?”

“I couldn’t just leave them!”

“Elias!”

“There was a green nest. I couldn’t leave them there.”

Indigo sighed. “Fine.”

Elias nestled them into the sand with the eggs of the Queen’s nest.

“They might not hatch anyway. Green eggs are often duds,” Klaus said.

“Well, they deserved a chance.”

One of the bronze firelizards popped from _between_ , flapping his wings desperately. He slammed into Damien’s legs, rolled with a surprised squawk, and fell with the most awful crack onto three of the eggs. Two rolled away, one unharmed and one cracked, but the other shattered, spilling a tiny, pale, wet form onto the warm sand.

“Oh no!” wailed Loki.

The hatchling twitched, flapping its overlarge, wet wings, creeling. The bronze trilled an alarmed cry, flapping his wings as he tried to right himself and splattering ichor everywhere. Violet pulled off her jacket and draped it over him, lifting him to the side. “You got that numbweed Sofia?”

Sofia fumbled in her bag for the small pot she now carried as a matter of habit and pushed it to her. Damien unscrewed the metal cap. “Here; I’ll hold him.”

The bronze hissed and screeched crossly, snapping at his hands. Damien pulled the jacket over its head. “Stop that! Don’t you know we’re trying to help you you silly thing?”

The Queen popped from _between_ , flailing wildly as she tumbled through the air. Elias dove forwards, swaying for balance momentarily, and caught her around the body, pulling her aside. She shrieked, screeched, and bit his hand, hard. He yelled and dropped her heavily beside the clutch. “Sorry for making sure you didn’t break any more of your eggs.”

She chirped piteously. She was coated with ichor, one leg almost entirely eaten away and another held at an awkward angle. She laid down next to her clutch with a sharp trill.

Keeping her eyes on her, Indigo reached out and scooped up the tiny hatchling. It flapped furious wings, chirping and creeling. She tried to focus on happy feelings, pulling out her handkerchief and gently dabbing it dry. It chirped gratefully, and suddenly she could feel its hunger, tainted somewhat by surprise. She fumbled with the sack of meat at her waist, pulling out a chunk and shoving it at the hatchling. It snapped it down. It was fully formed by what she could tell, somewhat shocked by its sudden emergence into the world but otherwise ready to hatch.

She looked to the Queen, whose eyes were spinning in rainbow facets.

“Oh no.”

Damien uncovered the bronze’s injured wing, gripping the tip between two fingers and holding it out. Violet covered her hand with her sleeves and dipped it into the pot, carefully spreading the numbweed across the rather cross bronze’s wing.

“What’s ‘oh no?’”

Two greens popped from _between_ , both threadscored, and landed on ledges in the cave. The Queen began to hum, gazing expectantly at her eggs despite her injuries.

“That.”

Outside the cave, one of the other bronzes was engulfed by Thread and vanished _between_. The one Damien was still holding had at last stopped trying to bite him through the jacket and was allowing Violet to carefully probe his wing. There was a hole straight through it, the edges blackened and burnt. She licked her lips

One of the larger eggs gave a sudden, slight rock. Indigo shoved another chunk of meat at the hatchling in her lap.

“What do we do?” Finn asked. From the corner of his eye he saw a blue outside the cave vanish _between_.

“They’ll die out there!” Klaus cried.

“Hiss!” shouted Kyra.

Two blues and a brown popped from _between_ , one of the blues managing to land beside a green while the other crashed to the sandy floor dangerously close to the clutch. The brown landed heavily next to Loki, humming encouragingly. Outside, Indigo could see less than half the small fair now, screeching desperately at the falling Thread.

Two more of the eggs began to rock as cracks spread across the first. The humming of the adult firelizards grew louder and more frantic. The first egg broke open, spilling a dark, wet body across the sand. He righted himself and flapped his wings experimentally, a little more lively than his unexpectedly hatched brother, and squeaked as he stumbled across the sandy floor towards the cave mouth. A green vanished _between_ , covered in Thread, shrieking in pain. Violet hesitated a moment longer and then reached out and snatched the hatchling, pulling a chunk of meat from her pouch to offer him. “Catch as many as you can, feed them!”

Elias grinned. “Seriously?”

Indigo rolled her eyes. “No Elias; she wants us to let them wander out and get eaten by Thread.”

There were four more eggs rocking now, thin cracks forming across the shells. Two more broke open, revealing a bronze and a second blue, while a green claw broke through a third. Damien caught the two hatchlings as they flapped their wings, shoving meat at them. They snapped it up, hissing and snarling at each other.

“Be nice,” he scolded as another three eggs broke open. Klaus, Elias, and Finn grabbed one each, quickly shovelling food at them.

Another two eggs hatched, twin hatchlings that fell on each other with hisses and growls, beating at each other with their wet wings and creeling with hunger. They knocked into another as they bickered, cracking it open. Indigo pulled them apart, stuffing chunks of meat into their gaping mouths, while Lavender snatched up the third.

More eggs were spilling open now, a bronze, two more browns, a pair of blues, a trio of greens. They squawked and flapped their damp wings, glistening with egg fluid, stumbling their way across the cave towards the mouth. The adult firelizards hummed in encouragement. The Queen gave one last crooning trill and blinked _between_.

“Gone,” said Kyra sadly. Klaus dropped one of the blue hatchlings in her lap while Loki grabbed the other.

One of the greens escaped past Sofia as she tried to grab it, but she managed to catch the bronze, shoving food at it. Another brown got past Violet as she made a wild snatch for the pair. She caught the second, shoving food at him, while Lavender and Sofia managed to catch the remaining greens.

More eggs were breaking open, spilling tiny baby firelizards across the cave, too many to fully keep track of now. The siblings caught them at random as they scattered over the sandy floor: a pair of blues for Damien and a pair of greens for Sofia; a brown and a blue for Loki; a bronze for Indigo and a brown for Lavender; a blue and a green for Violet; a blue for each of the triplets and a trio of greens for Finn. Kyra tempted over another blue and Indigo passed a blue and a brown to the littlest twins, who clumsily stuffed meat into their mouths. Phoebe caught a brown of her own by tackling it and cramming a messy handful of meat at its face.

Despite their best efforts, however, some still escaped past them into the horror of Thread outside the cave: two greens and a blue, a little brown and a bronze. Within seconds all of them were engulfed.

Damien found himself with another little bronze, while Lavender tried to block a trio of greens and a blue from escaping the cave by blocking it with her body. She caught the blue and one green, but the remaining two shot past her. Klaus snatched up a tiny, pale green and Indigo another brown, while Violet found herself holding the only gold of the clutch. Three greens started a fight over Phoebe’s spilt bag of meat, ignoring Indigo’s attempt to split them up. Another blue evaded Damien’s attempt to catch him, dropping over the ledge of the cave, but Violet managed to catch another little green diving at his face, shoving what was left of her meat at her. A fifth green joined in with the battle for the spilt meat, shrieking and squealing.

There were only four unhatched eggs now, along with the seven Elias had rescued. Two of them were rocking furiously, long cracks marking the shells, but the remaining two were still. One of those rocking split open, revealing a small blue head. He tumbled from the remains of his egg and Elias held out a chunk of meat, which he snapped up eagerly. The other shattered, revealing a pretty looking green. Klaus caught her and fed her what was left of his meat until he felt her contented fullness.

The last two eggs sat still.

“Not hatch?” Kyra asked.

“I guess not,” Violet replied.

“According to ‘A Basic Guide to Firelizards,’ there are often two or three duds in a clutch,” said Klaus.

Indigo picked up one of the eggs, shaking it slightly. “Hollow. I guess it never even developed.”

Lavender gazed out at the Thread that was still falling and the red flashes from the dragons above. There was no sign of the rest of the firelizard fair. The only adults that remained were those that had returned to the cave.

“What do we do now?”

“We wait here,” Violet said. “Threadfall will pass eventually, and then we can find Uncle Monty and get back to the croft.”

Sunny yawned. “Nap.”

Klaus picked her up and held her in his arms so she’d be more comfortable. Sofia picked up Noah and Lavender picked up Phoebe, who was still trying to cuddle her brown like a stuffed toy.

“Phoebs, he’s a living thing, and a baby. You can’t hold him so tight.”

“Soft!”

“I know, but you still can’t hold him that tight.”

Phoebe huffed, but slackened her hold on the little firelizard.

Kyra laid down and curled up against Dog, laying her head on his side. He whined softly, slowly wagging his tail.

Indigo crawled closer to Violet and Damien, who were the closest to the mouth of the cave. The injured bronze firelizard had finally fallen asleep on Violet’s jacket.

“Do you think this is normal?”

Violet flinched slightly as a dragon – a brown or a bronze, Indigo couldn’t tell from this distance – flashed _between_.

“No.”

Indigo winced. “You- You don’t think he’s left us do you?”

“I think we shouldn’t make assumptions until we know all the facts.”

“But it’s a possibility. He lied to us; he said Threadfall wasn’t due for four days.”

“It wasn’t.”

“What?”

“I checked the charts yesterday; I was going to walk sweep. We weren’t due Threadfall for four days. This is out of pattern.”

“Oh.”

Damien patted her shoulder. “We’re safe here now. We just have to wait it out.”

Outside, there was Thread piling up on the beach, heaped on top of the rocks, trying to burrow into the sand and stone. Even when the Fall passed, Violet thought, they would have to wait a long while before they could leave, perhaps even until the tide had come in to drown the silver menace and gone back out again.

“But where is he? He can’t just tell us that we have nothing to worry about and then fardling vanish!”

Damien wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. “Maybe he couldn’t reach us in time. Maybe he’s sheltering in one of the other caves, or under one of the ledges.”

“Or maybe he left us.”

“Worrying about maybes won’t help us right now,” Violet said, gazing down at the sleeping bronze firelizard. “Lav, how’s your foot?”

Lavender shifted, drawing her foot up to her side and wriggling her toes. “Hurts a bit, but it’s stopped bleeding.”

“That must be good.”

Outside, Thread continued to pile up.


End file.
